Ruritan clubs have come a long way since the organization was founded in the little village of Holland. But in May, Ruritans from around the country will come back home, as it were, to celebrate the movement that began with a couple of men who wanted to bridge the gap between the city and the country.

“It’s a homecoming for a lot of people,” Holland Ruritan Vice President Joe Simmons said. “You see people you haven’t seen in a year or more. It’s a happy time.”

The Holland Ruritan Club will celebrate its annual Founders’ Day event on May 20, beginning at 10 a.m.

It will commemorate the organization’s 89 years of fellowship, goodwill and community services in Suffolk and around the nation. There will be numerous activities throughout the day, plus vendors, club competitions and the event’s popular parade.

“We have a lot of people that are actively involved,” Simmons said. “Hundreds of hours go into Founder’s Day.”

The parade will begin at approximate 11 a.m. on Ruritan Boulevard. Several local high school bands will be part of the procession, along with many other parade floats owned by other Ruritan Clubs and organizations. Simmons said the hour-long procession is one of the biggest parades in Suffolk.

Athletic associations will host baseball games for kids. Vendors will be selling their wares around the ballfield. The 16 different Ruritan Clubs in the city of Suffolk will also compete in a barbecue cook-off, with awards given to the top three teams.

Barbecue tickets will be $10. Ticketholders will be able to sample each competitor’s barbecue and vote for who they think has the best.

“By the time you go around to all of them that are cooking, you will have all the barbecue you can eat,” Simmons said.

Simmons said he enjoys the event’s small-town atmosphere.

“You get to know what’s going on,” Simmons said. “You get to know the people in town. You get to help the people in town. That’s why I do it.”

Ruritan was formed in 1928 by Tom Downing of Suffolk and Jack Gwaltney of Holland. They wanted to start an organization where community leaders could meet and discuss ways to make their community a better place to live.

The club’s charter members adopted the name “Ruritan” at the suggestion of Virginian-Pilot newspaper reporter Daisy Nurney. It’s a combination of Latin “ruri” and “tan,” meaning “open country” and “small town.”

Ruritan includes more than 30,000 members in more than 1,100 club chapters around the nation. The Ruritan National Foundation provides approximately $250,000 in financial assistance to students advancing their education past high school.

The Holland Ruritan Club meets at the Holland Community House once a month to organize contributions to national organizations such as Boy Scouts, and members raise money to help people in their community.

“We’re in the process of getting a permit to build this lady in town a handicap ramp,” Simmons said.

Simmons has been with the Holland club for 15 years. He and his wife got involved after the club accepted their daughter’s application for a high school student scholarship.

“We went to a meeting that night, and they asked us to come back,” Simmons said. “I’ve been there ever since.” ←